


Notes of Home

by Caketastrophe_cosplay



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Kiss, Fluff, Like he plays viola but also everything else in moderation, M/M, Modern Era, Musical person Mollymauk??, Pianist Caleb, Safety, cause he can't decide, cute fluff, purely self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caketastrophe_cosplay/pseuds/Caketastrophe_cosplay
Summary: Caleb Widogast, professional pianist, tries to practice a new song but he doesn't have it in him to play today. Maybe someone can help cheer him up and make him feel like he's not totally alone.





	Notes of Home

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Drekkeri for the idea and also indulging me in writing this oneshot. Also big shout out the Widomauk discord for in general just constantly being a place filled with cute ideas for these two.
> 
> Enjoy <3
> 
> (no i will not be making this into a longer series, unfortunately i have way too many long fics on my plat at the moment. hahaha Me biting off more than i can chew? More likely than you think! ;D)

Caleb sighed as he leaned over the ivory keys in front of him and buried his face in his wide hands. Perfect pianist hands, his mother had always told him. His fingers were long and dexterous and he could easily reach every key he needed to make beautiful music float from the grand piano in front of him. The practice room he was in was older, well used by him and others like him. Other pianists.

He wanted to play, his heart ached for a song but he couldn’t bring himself to press down on the keys right then. Some days were better than others, and today he was thinking about his parents and the past. 

Specifically, the happy songs his mother used to play for them, all taught to her by her mother. She really only knew six or so songs but he loved every single one dearly and he could play all but two of them from memory. He could not recall enough of the first two to find sheet music or to clearly remember the sounds of the notes. They were just background sounds, floaty and comforting but unclear.

He missed her dearly and he blamed himself for leaving to train at the academy to be the best pianist and leaving her in her poor health. He hadn’t come back even when he got news of her passing, he mourned her in secret and continued to practice because if he wasn’t practicing then according to…. _that man_ he was wasting his talent. If he wanted to be the best he did not have time for family. 

It was when he received word of his father’s passing that he realized all he had squandered. All he had lost and would never gain again. He had given up Piano for almost ten years.

Caleb felt his lungs stutter with a barely contained sob. He rubbed aggressively at his eyes with the heels of his palms to fight the unwelcome tears. 

Piano was all he had left of both of his parents, but sometimes playing made him so terribly sad. It drained the life from him and make it feel like lifting his hands to the keys was as good as placing both them into the coffin himself. 

Sometimes he just wanted to listen to someone else play. 

The door to the practice room swung open with a creak and Caleb straightened at the bench with the speed befitting a teenager rather than a man in his late thirties.

Shiesse, had somebody else scheduled time for the practice room today? What day was it, had he completely wasted all the time he had set aside to learn a piece? A million thoughts and more just like this ran through his head as he started to grab his sheet music and shove it back into his folder. 

“Whoa whoa, where are you going in a hurry? I didn’t hear any piano playing so I thought I would check in on you?” Caleb turned on the bench to stare at the gorgeous man with purple and teal hair that strode into his practice room. The man he had been crushing on terribly for weeks now, simply because he had practiced a duet with him once and it had made Caleb’s heart soar watching him play his viola. 

Mollymauk Tealeaf, walked calmly over to him and gestured to the bench expectantly. 

“May I sit Mr. Caleb?” Caleb looked from the door to his half packed up sheet music and nodded mutely as he set his rumpled binder stuffed with all kinds of music back onto the stand. Molly settled next to him, Caleb painfully aware that their thighs were touching from knee to hip. He exhaled a long drawn out sigh and looked over at his bright and colorful coworker. He tried to not be overwhelmed by his feelings and the overly bright colours Molly was dressed in.

“Are you having music block? Because that is the worst and I would help you if I knew how to fix it.” Molly’s voice was pleasantly soft, and once Caleb had gotten used to his flashy appearance including all of the tattoos and the piercings and the bright hair, he had realized just how nice he was. Each nice thing he did made a little nest inside of his heart, until Caleb realized that something had been building there each time he interacted with this confusing man. A small collection of emotions and memories and feelings that sat comfortably and sometimes painfully in his chest. Right next to his heart. It made Caleb uncomfortable to think about so he did his best to ignore it.

“Music block is…Nein. Not quite it.” He laughed humorlessly and brought his hand down onto the keys in a lone chord. Playing the note gave him no joy, even if the sound made him feel a pleasant hum. “I simply do not have it in me to play today…”

That was an understatement. He didn’t have it in him to do anything today, the fact that he’d made it to the practice room had simply been out of a sense of duty for his job not out of anything else. He’d gone because he needed to learn a new piece but…upon sitting down at the bench had had wasted hours just staring at the keys, remembering things from times far past. He could not muster the feeling and energy he needed to play like he knew he could. His spirit was crushed and his fingers with it.

 

Mollymauk hummed beside him and the silence stretched as they both stared at the keys in front of them. The endless expanse of white and black just begging to be made into something beautiful. Caleb was on the verge of packing up again when Mollymauk settled his hands over the keys. 

Caleb frowned as he had not ever thought that Molly could play the piano. 

“Well I’m certainly not as good as you but maybe I can play you something, give you a little inspiration.” Molly was looking at him with an expression Caleb couldn’t read but he felt it warm him inside. A comfort washed over him as Mollymauk hit one key and then quickly followed with some more. He ran through a basic warm up for his fingers and even that had Caleb feeling soothed and better. His shoulders had lowered a fraction from their tense position. 

“Alright here we go…” Molly’s hands were shaking slightly, but before Caleb could really ponder why the man was already playing the opening chords to the song that he wanted to play. It was soft and sweet and the melody floated along beautifully with a touch of sadness to it, and Caleb very quickly realized that he recognized the song. It was beautiful as a piano solo and as ‘Safe and Sound’ floated over him in waves while Mollymauk carefully played each piece, Caleb found the lyrics floating in his head. 

The knots in his stomach seemed to unwind as they came to the chorus and he was leaning fully into Molly’s side now with his head dazedly resting on his shoulder as he stared at the keys and the beautiful hands that deftly played each note like it was precious. It was not a horribly difficult song but for what it lacked in complexity Molly made up for with timing and feeling.

Caleb didn’t realize that he was crying until he felt the hot slide of liquid down his jaw. He slowly lowered his gaze to see the dark splashes on his pants from each droplet of water. He closed his eyes and let everything wash over him slowly and all at once. He reached out and gripped the back of Mollymauk’s shirt tightly as he became as close as possible without disturbing his playing. 

_Just close your eyes… the sun is going down. You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now._

He resonated with the lyrics after the bridge and mouthed them as the piano swelled one last time and came to a close with a delicate melody. It took him a moment to realize that Mollymauk was humming the last part of the song out loud as he finished the final few notes on the piano.

Silence stretched through the room as the last few notes resonated in the wooden frame of the grand piano. Caleb turned his head to bury his face in the other man’s shoulder and he felt arms wrap around him tightly and pull him into his chest. He wasn’t crying any more but all the same he didn’t want to let go. He hadn’t felt so at home in such a long time. Nobody had played for him like that since his mother had. The emotion behind the playing was real and that nest inside his heart wasn’t empty at all, it was full of Mollymauk and it was full of music and love. These feelings had made a home inside his chest.

The distinct press of lips to the top of his head soothed a bone deep ache in him and he shivered as something in the world changed, as something larger than anything aligned and he fell into a place that he hadn’t realized had always been there for him to gently slide into. 

“Danke. Danke Mollymauk.” Smooth hands rubbed up and down his back and he exhaled into it. Each calming gesture bringing him back down to earth and to a place that didn’t feel as horrible as he had assumed.

“For you darling, anything.” Mollymauk’s voice floated contently above him and Caleb pulled away from the embrace just far enough to pin him under his gaze. He searched those beautiful brown eyes with hues of red and orange for any kind of joke, anything that was a test or a tease. He found nothing but truth and love, and maybe a bit of discomfort at being stared at by someone who never made eye contact. 

“Anything?” Caleb slid a hand up to his shoulder and up to his neck where he pressed gently right underneath that jaw line to bring him closer. 

“Anything. I would give you the world if you asked.” Mollymauk muttered barely brushing against his lips, each syllable sliding over sensitive skin with whispered words and promises of better things.

“I want you.” Caleb closed the gap between their mouths and felt the sweet press on those lips against his. The wholeness he felt in his chest didn’t go away, it became warm and happiness he hadn’t known in years fluttered untethered in his ribcage. 

Kissing Mollymauk in the practice room with the notes of a freshly played song still resonating in the air reminded him of the past, but not in a sad way. 

It reminded him of home. 

A new home.


End file.
